Cincinnati Bengals Re-Sign Cut Player for Health Insurance for his 4-year-old’s Cancer Treatments

The Cincinnati Bengals are a favorite football team for many Ohio NFL fans and if you didn’t love the team before, you’re really going to love them now. The team cut Devon Still, Defensive tackle, making his summer even more difficult than it’s already been. The NFL player’s daughter, age 4, was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a very rare and possibly deadly form of cancer, back in June. Because he missed so much of the team’s training camp and practices all summer, the team cut the 25-year-old father from the roster. Still’s attitude toward his cut was surprising.

“I completely understand where they were coming from. I can’t give football 100 percent right now. In the business aspect they want guys to solely focus on football, which is understandable. We are here to win this city a Super Bowl and right now I am not in a position where I can give football 100 percent of everything I have,” he said of his recent drop from the roster.

However, the team’s head coach had a different opinion on the matter. He made the decision to re-sign Still to the team’s practice squad so that he could have medical coverage for his daughter’s cancer treatments. Additionally, he also still has an income of more than $6,300 per week, which will enable him to stay afloat while his young daughter fights for her life. He’s still technically a part of the squad, but he’s not required to travel to games, which enables him to spend more time with his daughter as she begins her fourth round of chemotherapy.

“They could have washed their hands with me and said they didn’t care about what I was going through off the field,” said Still. Fortunately for him, his team didn’t abandon him. Last week the football player shaved his head to match his little girl’s, and posted to Instagram that his daughter had begun another round of chemo.
“Round 4 of chemo starts today. Sending up a prayer that God allows my daughter to remain as strong as she has for her previous cycles and I ask that after this chemo the test shows that the tumor has shrunk to the point where it allows for an easy surgery to remove it,” he posted online. Here’s hoping his daughter becomes a cancer survivor.

(Photo by Duane Prokop/Getty Images for Tide)